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Why Power Cables Affect Sound

I just bought a new CD player and was underwhelmed with it compared to my cheaper, lower quality CD player. That’s when it hit me that my cheaper CD player is using an upgraded power cable. When I put an upgraded power cable on my new CD player, the sound was instantly transformed: the treble was tamed, the music was more dynamic and lifelike, and overall more musical. 

This got me thinking as to how in the world a power cable can affect sound. I want to hear all of your ideas. Here’s one of my ideas:

I have heard from many sources that a good power cable is made of multiple gauge conductors from large gauge to small gauge. The electrons in a power cable are like a train with each electron acting as a train car. When a treble note is played, for example, the small gauge wires can react quickly because that “train” has much less mass than a large gauge conductor. If you only had one large gauge conductor, you would need to accelerate a very large train for a small, quick treble note, and this leads to poor dynamics. A similar analogy might be water in a pipe. A small pipe can react much quicker to higher frequencies than a large pipe due to the decreased mass/momentum of the water in the pipe. 

That’s one of my ideas. Now I want to hear your thoughts and have a general discussion of why power cables matter. 

If you don’t think power cables matter at all, please refrain from derailing the conversation with antagonism. There a time and place for that but not in this thread please. 
128x128mkgus
genez
220 posts
 
geoffkait13,634 posts12-16-2018 12:50pmSorry to inform but there is no electron transfer through wire. Electrons are for all intents and purposes stationary. What IS traveling through the wires is photons, which makes sense, right? You know, since the signal travels through wire at near lightspeed. Happy Holidays! ⛄️ 🎅🏻

Next up, do photons have mass? 🙄

Only if they are Catholic photons.
boxer12
8,656 posts
 
kosst,
I'm running an Aloia SS power amp, which I bought about a week and a half ago. This amp is in two pieces. One is the power supply which weighs about 80 pounds alone. The other piece is the amplifier portion. I believe it is very well engineered and it sounds wonderful. I initially put an inexpensive power cord on it (10 gauge) and listened to it for a few days, then put "my standard" aftermarket cable on it. Although not terribly expensive, it's an Oyaide Tunami cord, also 10 gauge. There was improvement in clarity top to bottom. Just my experience. 
brokenmac
4 posts
 
I was a cable skeptic back when. Then I visited my speakers for no reason other than geekerie. I was super surprised at the improvement. I definitely think signal cables make a difference.  I can’t see power cables doing anything though. It’s just bringing your 120/60 or what have you from the wall to your power supply. BUT, I do wonder if tiny tweaks like power cables and vibration control can add up to a positive cumulative effect?  For me, I don’t think it’d be worth the expense though. If I was rich, I’d try it with good used power cables. 
thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 
There are people who would argue that power cords have a bigger impact than signal cables. I am unable to explain why, but they do
jtucker
77 posts
 
Against my better judgment, I am going to jump in here.  First off let me state that the stock power cables in my system have been replaced, but not with what any of you would consider "audiophile" PCs, just heavy duty equipment grade IEC cables.
There appear to be two ways to look at this, either as the PC being the last few feet of the delivery (looking into the component) or the first few feet (looking back out from the component.  Looking in, a well designed power supply should filter out any unwanted ripple or noise and looking out should prevent any unwanted ripple or EMI effects from going out to the hose wiring through the PC.  Equipment must pass the relevant EMI standards (FCC class B, etc)  It would be possible to measure the differences in conducted EMI using different PCs
Looking into the system, there are also relevant specifications that can be measured, such as PSRR (power supply rejection ratio), transient response and spectral content.  I am not saying one way or the other whether any of this is audible or not, but it would still be interesting to see if there is any real, measurable differences in performance between a standard IEC PC and an aftermarket high end cable.

I have access to extensive lab equipment and a shielded EMI chamber with conditioned AC source. Anyone in the DFW area interested in doing some comparison testing (you will have to supply the after market cable)?
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